When MI:13’s mortuary begins filling up with the disembodied feet of gardening enthusiasts, Harry Crow (David Warner) and Professor Dunning (Terry Molloy) are plunged into a sinister world of garden allotments, topiary fowl and gaudy garden ornaments.

When the landlord of Harry’s local, the Six Bells, is also found minus his snakeskin brothel creepers (and their contents), Crow and Dunning are plunged into a more sinister world still – of Morris dancers, exceptionally strong ale and all-powerful ancient Indian deities.

What is the dark secret of the Six Bells privy? Are the Beer and Real Ale Association merely hirsute eccentrics, or something else? And what is the real purpose of Morris dancing?

Crow and Dunning discover that horticulture can be a dangerous business, as they find themselves pitted against their shortest foes yet… THE GNOMES OF DEATH.

The Scarifyers began life in 2006 with The Nazad Conspiracy, uniting 1930s ghost story writer Professor Dunning (Terry Molloy) with Detective Inspector Lionheart (Nicholas Courtney), as they battled the vengeful spirit of Rasputin. In The Devil of Denge Marsh, Lionheart left the force to set up top-secret government department MI-13, and rescue Dunning from an evil cult and a giant squid. For King and Country saw our heroes save King George VI from an irate resurrected Oliver Cromwell; in The Curse of the Black Comet they travelled to Egypt in the company of Brian Blessed, and in The Secret Weapon of Doom they searched for the titular secret weapon, aided by Nigel Havers and Leslie Phillips. In 2011, Nicholas Courtney passed away, and new lead actor David Warner was introduced in The Magic Circle, continuing his adventures in 2012’s The Horror of Loch Ness, 2013’s The Thirteen Hallows and 2014’s The King of Winter.

BBC 7 (now Radio 4 Extra) picked up The Scarifyers in 2007, and has continued to broadcast the series ever since. The Radio Times called them ‘rollicking good fun.’

The series is produced by Bafflegab Productions, producers of Baker’s End, starring Tom Baker (finalist in the 2017 BBC Audio Drama Awards); Hammer Films audio anthology Hammer Chillers; and The Brenda and Effie Mysteries, starring Anne Reid (winner of the Gold New York Radio Award for Best Audiobook 2015)